Monday, January 23, 2012

The joy of discovery

Every day I learn new things.

Today, for example, I have already learned:

* There is a science-fiction book called The Day of the Triffids that was written in 1951 by John Wyndham.

* John Wyndham is the pen name of one John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris.

* An oophorectomy is the operation of removing one or both ovaries.

...and it’s only 9:30 a.m.

6 comments:

  1. Bob,I'm so glad to have contributed in a small way to your great expanse of knowledge. :-) x

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  2. Elizabeth, even if I had not left a comment, I knew you would know I had read your post!

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  3. There's a film called The Day of the Triffids too, a miniseries and a radio play (in the Netherlands). I did know about the film, I've seen it, but not about the miniseries and the radio play. So I've learned something too.

    Oophorectomy, is it called that because the lady shouts Ooooo when they are removed?
    (Gruesome idea. Far too close to my own experience. Yuck!)

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  4. Carolina, according to dictionary.com the word is pronounced oh-uh-fuh-rek-tuh-mee (not ooh-fuh-rek-tuh-mee). I refer all other questions on this topic to Elizabeth.

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  5. HE WHO SHRANK, ISSAC ASMOV, 1953

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  6. My pleasure reading between the age of 12 and the age of sixteen, consisted of a diet of almost pure SciFi.
    I started at the beginning of the alphabet in my school library and it took me until 15 to get past the ABC:
    Asimov, Clark and Bradbury. I just discovered Wyndham before I left school.

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<b>Always true to you, darlin’, in my fashion</b>

We are bombarded daily by abbreviations in everyday life, abbreviations that are never explained, only assumed to be understood by everyone...